How our neutrophils might sabotage wound healing in diabetes

Why is wound healing delayed in people with type 1 or 2 diabetes? Blame a perfect storm of diabetic complications, such as reduced blood flow, neuropathy and impaired signaling between cells. According to research by Denisa Wagner, PhD, of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, a poorly understood feature of our immune system’s neutrophils may be one more ingredient in the storm.

The Art of Endocytosis

The Boston Globe described a new sculpture by artist Rudolfo Quintas, named “Absorption.” This 880-pound digital media sculpture is the result of discussions had with Dr. Tomas Kirchhausen, Principal Investigator in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Professor Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, regarding the essential cellular process of endocytosis.

When HIV and TB coexist: Digging into the roots of IRIS

Millions of people worldwide suffer from co-infection with tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. While prompt antibiotic and antiretroviral treatment can be a recipe for survival, over the years, physicians have noticed something: two or three weeks after starting antiretrovirals, about 30 percent of co-infected patients get worse.

Can breast cancer cells tell each other to metastasize?

Not all cancer cells are created equal. In fact, to call a cancer a cancer, in the singular, is something of a misnomer. Really, a patient could be said to have cancers, as every tumor is actually a mixture of cells with different mutations and capabilities. One of those capabilities is the ability to escape the main tumor and spread, or metastasize, to other sites in the body.

A simpler way to measure complex biochemical interactions

Life teems with interactions. Proteins bind. Bonds form between atoms, and break. Enzymes cut. Drugs attach to cell receptors. DNA hybridizes. Those interactions make the processes of life work, and capturing them has led to many medical advances.

On the hunt for gene editing's collateral damage

Labs the world over are jumping on the gene editing bandwagon. But one question keeps coming up: How precise are these systems? After all, a method that selectively mutates, deletes or swaps specific gene sequences is only as good as its accuracy.

Shedding light on AID off-targeting and lymphoma

Researchers in the laboratory of Frederick Alt have identified a relationship between sites of convergent gene transcription, the presence of intragenic super-enhancers, and the mis-targeting of the mutagenic activity of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID).

A promising strategy against HIV

Removing roadblocks to therapeutic cloning to produce stem cells

To help find barriers associated with a cloning technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), Drs. Yi Zhang and Shogo Matoba generated mouse embryos through either SCNT or IVF and compared their gene expression profiles at the very early stages of development.

Michael Walch, Farokh Dotiwala and Judy Lieberman unveil a new role for killer cells in bacterial defense. In a recent Cell paper they show that granulysin, an antimicrobial protein present in the cytotoxic granules of human killer lymphocytes, delivers death-inducing granzymes into bacteria, where they rapidly kill bacteria and limit the spread of infection.

Scientists turn back the clock on blood cells, reprogram them into blood stem cells

Featured News Story

When you get a cut or a scrape, your body jumps into action, mobilizing a complicated array of cells and factors to stem bleeding, keep the wound bacteria-free and launch the healing process.

For most of us, that process is complete in a couple of weeks. But for many people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, delayed wound healing can have permanent consequences. For example, between 15 and 25 percent of diabetes patients develop chronic foot ulcers. Those ulcers are the root cause of roughly two-thirds of lower limb amputations related to diabetes.

Why don’t these wounds close? Blame a perfect storm of diabetic complications, such as reduced blood flow, neuropathy and impaired signaling between cells. According to research by Denisa Wagner, PhD, of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, a poorly understood feature of… Read More »